I’ve recently found myself with a lot of free time, and I need some good books to read. Right now, I’m really big into ‘scandalous’ type stories. Like right now, I’m watching “Reversal of Fortune” on AMC, because this story fascinates me. I haven’t read a lot of books like this, so any suggestions would be helpful.
And, if you don’t know of any biographies or autobiographies like this, any good fiction book will do. (I finally got a library card, and was slightly disappointed in the Steve Martin book I got.)
Just read a great review of Beautiful Shadow a new bio of Patricia Highsmith (author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Strangers on a Train, etc.) I’m not sure how scandalous it is, but there has been talk about her leaving behind a “trail of unmade beds” wherever she went.
The Alan Clark diaries are as scandalous as you can imagine. He was a lying, dissembling, cheating, scheming Conservative politician (if that isn’t a tautology) in Margaret Thatcher’s government. He was also totally honest in his diaries. At one point he was banging a woman and her two teenage daughters. Worth a read if you’ve any interest in the UK or UK politics.
How about irate bios by kids of stars? “Mommie Dearest” by Christina Crawford is the granddaddy (grandmommie?) of the group, but there’s one of Bing Crosby by one of his sons that alleges he was an abusive asshole at home.
I forget the title but the bio I read on Cole Porter had plenty of information on his cruising habits. He was a VERY promiscuous gay man back when that HAD to be hidden to work in show biz. Of course, hidden means only from those that disapproved… everyone else knew.
There’s an older one about Mick Jagger called Mick Jagger: UNAUTHORIZED which is chock full of good gossip and innuendo. Fun reading.
However, it’s by Kitty Kelley so that means it is probably a complete pack of lies and fairy tales, so reader beware, and take with a half grain of salt.
I’d suggest “Diaries of Kenneth Tynan” by, er, Kenneth Tynan
(he was a London critic, since you ask)
I don’t have much time for critics usually - but hearing extracts read on the radio (toned down though they were) I had to read the book. He knew and bitched about just about everyone (including Ethel Merman) The Amazon page for the book
I was just going to come recommend this–just finished it last week. It’s light and enjoyable, if not terribly deep, which suits the subject well enough. I would say the juiciest thing about it is the fact that many of the real-life models for Jackie’s characters are revealed.
Frankly, I had hoped it would be even more scandalous than it was (after all, the author claims in the preface that Jackie’s husband, Irving Mansfield, threatened to shoot her!)…but I say that as a (gulp) Jacqueline Susann fan. Nobody can out-trash her.
walk this way, its very…open…and its my favorite read of all time!! mabye its becasue they are my favorite band.
If you want first hand accounts of the rock and roll life style and how drugs can take everthing from you, not to mention the great survival story of them taking it all back, youll like this book
For several weeks recently I was into the biography thing. Most of the ones I read were pretty far away from the scandalous type. In fact, except for the one on Chet Baker which was more of a downer because of his perennial and destructive drug use, the only one with even a flair for the scandalous was the one on Robert Mitchum.
Even his story isn’t as juicy as you might want, but it was a fun read all the same.
If you want sex and drugs and rock n’ roll type stuff Pamela des Barres’s books “I’m With the Band” and “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart” have plenty. They’re kind of lightheaded fluffy books but a fun read anyway.
Or, if you’re looking for scandal outside of the realm of popular entertainment, try Anton Gill’s “Art Lover: A Biography of Peggy Guggenheim.” She liked getting it on more than she loved art and she had no shortage of lovers.
Ya know what’s funny? I’ve only seen “Mommie Dearest”, I’ve never read the book. (The movie is required viewing in my family, as my mother is related to the Dunaways.) I’ve heard from what I consider to be reliable sources that the book is a combination of personal (read: mental) issues and things that really may have happened.
Any more? The more scandalous the better. The crazy thing is that I could care less to know about stars’ personal lives as they currently live them, but I’ll sit and read a book filled with gory details about it.
The Long Hard Road Out of Hell about Marilyn Manson is QUITE scandalous.
I also recently read a HUGE biography of the life of Anias Nin, and it couldn’t get much more scandalous than that. She was married to two men, in two different states, and neither of them knew about the other until they met for the first time at her funeral. Oh, and she had convinced one of her husbands that she was about forty years younger than she actually was, and he never knew until she developed health problems due to her actual old age.
Very fascinating read. Wish I could remember the author.
Not a single person, but Peter Biskind’s ‘Easy Riders, Raging Bulls’ documents the rise and fall of the classic American filmmakers during the 70’s. Lots of gossip on Altman, Scorsese, Spielberg, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, Coppola and many others. Fascinating stuff if you’re into that era…
